Odesa mayor stripped of Ukrainian citizenship
Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov (Photo: Gennadiy Trukhanov / Facebook)
Odesa Mayor Hennadiy Trukhanov has been stripped of his Ukrainian citizenship based on evidence of him holding a valid Russian passport, Ukraine’s SBU security service announced on Oct. 14.
According to the SBU's Telegram post, the decision to revoke Trukhanov's citizenship was made by the presidential commission on citizenship issues. The decision is supported by evidence gathered by the service and has been ratified by a presidential decree.
According to the investigation, Trukhanov is currently a citizen of Russia and holds a valid Russian passport. The SBU published a photocopy of the document.
Trukhanov received the Russian passport on Dec. 15, 2015, well after Russia invaded and occupied swathes of Ukrainian territory, including illegally annexed Crimea. The passport is valid for 10 years.
The SBU added that in 2017, Trukhanov got his internal Russian passport annulled by a Moscow court. The court ruling, however, explicitly stated the annulment “does not lead to the loss of Russian Federation citizenship acquired legally.” Therefore, the SBU concluded that Trukhanov remains a Russian citizen. He also has a personal identification code listed in the Russian Federal Tax Service's database.
Shortly afterwards, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he will soon appoint someone to govern Odesa, while Trukhanov maintained that he will remain mayor until Odesa City Council votes to dismiss him from the post.
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